Docturnal can diagnose TB by listening to cough

Hyderabad: Technology can be used for solving real problems. This was amply proved at the startup showcase, which coincided with the decennial celebrations of Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at International Institute of Information Technology.

For instance, there is Docturnal which uses technology to diagnose pulmonary TB just by listening to and interpreting a cough. The startup uses artificial intelligence and machine learning for this. Docturnal’s solution is non-invasive, point of care and real time.

According to Rahul Pathri, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Docturnal, it employs a unique method of diagnosing the patient just by identifying their cough. The patient needs to cough into their app called TimBre, through a special microphone plugged into the mobile device. This data is then interpreted along with other patient data to arrive at the diagnosis.

The app also captures data relating to occupation, place of residence and others. This socio economic data will help in determining a patient’s progression into multi drug resistant (MDR) TB.

The startup aims to speed up detection and also reducing the gestation period as well as the threat of the infection spreading.

It has trained its alorithms by collecting data from infected patients and has achieved a sensitivity rate of about 85 per cent.

Docturnal is currently piloting the app in a couple of hospitals in Hyderabad.

It now wants extend its method to diagnosis of other respiratory diseases like Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Asthama, according to Vaishnavi Reddy, Data Scientist and Co-Founder of Docturnal.

Then there is Savika, an app that clarifies doubts about pregnancy. The app tracks and record changes, capture memories and allows the users to engage with others. It also sends reminders and allows one to upload and share reports. This is developed by Psynapce India, which is incubated at IIIT-H.

Another IIIT-H incubated company is NanoHealth. It is a technology driven human care model to solve the rising burden of growing chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, thyroid, obesity and cholesterol issues.

NanoHealth has so far touched 70,000 people across communities, corporates and households. It offers health assessment, doctor/dietician consultation and diagnostics and pharmacies at doorsteps, personalised user app, personalised health coaching and disease-based health management. It is now working to make available healthcare advancements and best practices for managing chronic conditions in order to induce clinical and behavioural modifications to combat the disorders.